So this is personal – not just to Ron Geerlings and me but to the CRCNA. I remember this area, its farmers and church leaders. We have been at schools just like the burned-out shell you see on the news.

My heart was racing. The chairs, which had been placed in a large circle, were moved to the side of the town hall we were meeting in. Once they were cleared away, we took our places in two lines facing each other. I found myself across from my opponent – a sweet-faced woman with shoulder length grey hair who smiled at me kindly. We introduced ourselves, shook hands. Still shaky with nervous energy, I turned my attention to the Christian Peacemaker Teams delegation leader who was facilitating the activity.

Every day at five am in the small rural community of Basurú, on Colombia’s Pacific Coast, a group from the local Mennonite church gathers to broadcast the events of the day. Using a microphone connected to megaphones hoisted high above the community on bamboo poles, the technology may be archaic but the messages are not. The only way to reach the community is by boat on the San Juan river; access to local news is a way to keep the community connected and informed of what is going on in the world around them.

On the last afternoon of Christ at the Checkpoint conference several hundred of us stood on the ancient, stony terraces among the olive trees to celebrate a Eucharist of solidarity with the people of Beit Jala (pronounced ‘bait-yala’) –Bethlehem’s smaller sister. It was icy cold and rainy. “Why don’t we do this inside the nice warm monastery?” I thought to myself.

When Egypt gathered in Cairo’s Tahrir Square in January 2011, I prayed that there would be real change in that country. I prayed that Egyptians would be freed from their bondage beneath the thumb of dictatorship, poverty, and social injustice.

When uprisings began in Yemen and Libya, I prayed that the reformers would win. When bombs went off and barricades rose and protestors marched, I prayed that the underdogs would win out against their overlords. When the weak stood up to the strong, I prayed.

This winter, World Renew and the OSJ are able to offer up to 20 scholarships towards the registration cost of The Justice Conference, happening in Los Angeles, Friday evening February 21 through February 22. If you would like to apply for a scholarship to attend this conference let us know by filling out this application by January 20.

Prison missives have power. When the normal liberties of life have been stripped away, all that remains is the humble authority of conviction and the truth of an unbreakable spirit. On September 9, community leader Jorge Montes was unjustly accused of belonging to the FARC, Colombia's largest guerrilla group. He is seen as threat to society and is currently in a maximum security prison, from which he writes, “I only ask God that he keep bitterness and revenge far from my heart and that he fill me with the wisdom to confront and endure this nameless torture.

"They said to me, 'Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.' When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven. Then I said: